McKinsey Q&A: Jason

August 5, 2016 – Jason joined our London office nearly a year ago as a senior implementation coach.

Interviewer: Tell us about your background before McKinsey.

Jason: Over the last 15 years, I have worked in consulting and industry, mainly in Australia, but also in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. I started my professional life as an engineer in manufacturing systems in the automotive industry in Europe and South America. After five years, I fancied a change. While in Australia on my extended honeymoon, I tried my hand at management consulting. Ten years later, after countless projects, one business start-up, an MBA, three years in a government leadership role and the births of two beautiful daughters, my family and I returned to London and I joined McKinsey Implementation.

Co-founding and acting as the COO of a custom-made sports gear business which recently won ‘New Online Retailer of the Year’ in the Australian Online Retailer Awards

Kitesurfing 1,185 km along the Great Barrier Reef to raise $120k for charity and break the Guinness world record for longest distance kite surfed as a team

Interviewer: What drew you to McKinsey Implementation?

Jason: The roles I played during the majority of my career focused on strategy implementation and embedding lasting change – whether through post-merger management, a large scale business transformation, or the launch and development of a major transportation infrastructure project. At McKinsey Implementation, I still do this – I just deliver more impact faster and more sustainably.

Interviewer: What excites you most about MI?

Jason: The opportunity I have to deliver more client impact than I could have if I’d chosen an alternate path because:

I am surrounded by remarkable people who have had incredible experiences. Most of my teammates have also come to McKinsey with years of experience, including line management and transformational change delivery.

The culture is focused on delivering impact, as opposed to revenue, which aligns our actions entirely with client success. This obviously has positive results on our outcomes.

McKinsey is a truly global firm, which means I can work where my skills will be most effective. I receive weekly emails about projects all over the world and internal geographical boundaries are almost non-existent. This is not something I have seen in my prior experience as a consultant or as a buyer of consulting services.